Personal Summary

Claire Rydell Arcenas is an American historian. She has particular interests in transatlantic intellectual, cultural, and political exchange between the late seventeenth and the mid twentieth centuries. Her current book project, Locke in America (under contract with the University of Chicago Press), investigates the influence of the seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke on American thought and culture over the last three hundred years. Her current research is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the Huntington Library, the Harry Ransom Center, and the Rothermere American Institute. Other research interests of hers include the eighteenth-century Republic of Letters; the relationship between political theory and practice in early America; and the transatlantic history of utilitarianism.

At the University of Montana, Professor Arcenas teaches courses on a range of topics in American history and historical methodology at both the undergraduate and graduate level. She also advises MA and PhD students whose projects explore topics related to American political, intellectual, and cultural history across a broad chronology. If you are interested in graduate studies in history at UM, please contact her via e-mail.

Education

BA, University of Wisconsin, Madison

MA, Stanford University

PhD, Stanford University

Field of Study

American History; History of the Atlantic World; Intellectual History; History of Political Thought and Politics; Cultural History; Historiography; Digital Humanities.

Home Department

Department of History

Area of Expertise

American Intellectual History; American Political History; The American Revolution and Founding Documents; Early America and the Early Modern Atlantic World